Created by scientists at the HRL Laboratories, the same laboratories that invented the laser and the semiconductor, jointly owned by Boeing and General Motors, microlattice is the lightest metal structure ever created. It is believed that microlattice could revolutionize the way airplanes, cars and even buildings are constructed. (www.boeing.com) Mais...

It's not enough to discover this material, what is even more Important is to find a way to produce it relatively cheaply - and quickly. Carbon fiber is an example of a great material that is not reaching its full potential due to its long process and high expense. If this new material can be made efficiently and quickly we may see it included is a lot of products we use everyday - rather that just a few applications.

Bell Labs (Now Alcatel-Lucent) did not invent the semiconductor. They invented the transistor. Diodes existed since the 1870's, and were first encapsulated as semiconductor mixers by the Rad Lab at MIT for use in WWII RADAR systems. What HRL did invent was the semiconductor gyroscope which not only makes planes safer and more reliable, but has shrunk to a size small engough to be fitted in almost every current cell phone to determine what angle you are holding the device.

Sounds like you know a lot about electronics- I had no idea there were semiconductors in the 1870's. Pretty nifty. I thought all that tech came from the Roswell crash when we got all the alien technology. Lol.

Are you an MIT graduate? What do you do for a living? Just curious - you seem like a pretty cool guy to know. I wanted to go to MIT but my dad wouldn't pay for it- he stole my college savings and got himself a nice house in Hilton head. I ended up at a community college and then transferred to an in state school as a result. It all worked out okay: I got to do what I love: flying, and I invent a few things from time to time.